L | E | E | R | S | P | L | I | T | F | R | E | E | ||
I | D | L | E | H | O | O | C | H | L | A | C | K | ||
C | E | L | L | O | N | T | H | E | F | E | N | C | E | |
K | N | E | E | L | E | D | A | L | L | E | G | E | D | |
N | I | L | T | M | I | |||||||||
M | U | S | T | S | E | E | S | A | T | O | D | D | S | |
I | N | A | A | S | S | E | T | S | P | R | E | E | ||
S | M | U | T | S | T | A | I | D | S | E | M | I | ||
H | A | T | E | R | A | L | L | I | N | A | O | K | ||
A | N | E | M | I | C | Y | E | S | A | N | D | N | O | |
P | A | S | O | N | E | |||||||||
T | A | N | G | E | N | T | P | R | O | B | O | N | O | |
B | L | E | A | R | Y | E | Y | E | D | U | P | O | N | |
A | D | A | M | O | V | A | T | E | L | U | R | K | ||
R | A | R | E | N | E | W | E | R | A | S | A | P |
Shortly after I started constructing, I found myself constantly coming up with clues for words I'd encounter throughout the day. I'd see a MIME and think, "He's ‘not one to talk.'" Or I'd be driving on a CUL DE SAC when a voice would pop in my head to say, "You know, this is ‘not a through street.'" Then one day it hit me that the clues inside my head always seemed to begin with the word "not," which is when I found myself wondering if I could construct a puzzle in which all of the Across clues began with the word "not."
It wasn't easy, at least not for the beginning constructor that I was. I spent a couple hundred hours filling a least a dozen iterations of this puzzle until I came up with a version that I thought might be elegant enough for the New York Times…then the Times came back with a few notes that required me to start all over again. But all that work NOT only earned me my NYT debut, (I am pinching myself) I can confidently say it made me a better constructor.
Anyway, I'm still sad that I couldn't get CUL DE SAC to work (I really tried), but I hope my puzzle gives everyone at least a few smiles. And yes, I owe XWord Info a big thank you for a few of my "nots." (The clue search option was clutch.)